Describing evidence for the theory of continental drift.
Learning Performances
Learning performances illustrate how students should use the scientific content and practices in tasks and reflect the reasoning tasks we want students to be able to do with scientific knowledge.
The students will describe various evidence for the theory of continental drift.
The students will develop a hypothesis to account for the bizarre behavior of the green sea turtle, based on evidence for the theory of continental drift.
The students will relate a short, small group activity to the development of the theory of continental drift.
The students will understand that a theory grows stronger as it evolves to include new information/evidence.
The students will understand that Earth is a planet in constant motion
Links to Standards or Benchmarks
You should link to a page unpacking the standard or benchmark lesson is meant to address.
ESS1 (5-8) INQ+ POC –1
Use geological evidence provided to support the idea
that the Earth’s crust/lithosphere is composed of
plates that move.
ESS1 (7-8)–1
Students demonstrate an
understanding of processes
and change over time within
earth systems by …
1a citing evidence and developing a logical argument for plate movement using fossil evidence, layers of sedimentary rock, location of mineral deposits, and shape of the continents.
3a Evaluating slow processes(e.g. weathering, erosion, mountain building, sea floor spreading) to determine how the Earth has changed and will continue to change over time.
Materials Needed
Students need a their notebook and a pencil.
Teacher needs overhead projecter, world map, pictures of green sea turtle, fossils (real fossil example would be great), matching rock formations, and a map of coal and glacial deposits.
Graphic Organizer: Paper sectioned into two columns one labeled "Evidence Type" and one labeled "Example"
Newspaper for activity
Introducing the lesson: Who has seen the movie March of the Penguins? What do you remember about the movie?
Discuss the nesting habits of the penguins and then introduce the sea turtle. Roamin' Ramona (Share map of Ramona's migration; still map and animated map.)
Describe in more detail where sea turtles live and where it lays it's eggs. (It lives off the coast of Brazil and travels to Ascension Island, about 1,450 miles away, to lay it's eggs. That's almost 3,000 miles round trip!) Ask why do you think it behaves this way? What could explain why this turtle makes such a long journey?
Hand-Out: Graphic Organizer to help students organize thier notes from lecture.
What is continental drift?
Show a picture of continents in present positions. What do you notice about them? (Hopefully that they resemble puzzle pieces in that they look like they "fit" together.) Do you think our planet has always looked this way? What about 2 Million years ago? One million years ago? Why do you think it looks this way?
Wegener's theory, from unfavorable to acceptable within the scientific community. (Wegener was a meteorologist, a weather scientist - what does HE know about Geology?!)
Facts/evidence supporting theory of continental drift:
fossils: definition; where similar fossils have been found. (How could these same type fossils be found in areas so far from each other?
matching rock formations: located on different continents
red sandstone: where it's formed (in desersts near equator) but this one is in Utah. Use map to show Utah's location, not close to the equator (How could this happen?)
coal and glacial deposits: locations
Pangaea picture (Earth, 250 million years ago; Earth 100 MYA; Earth, 45 MYA, Earth's continents at present position.)
Geologic Time Scale: Our continents are moving about 2 centimeters a year (show how small that is using a meter stick) VERY small amount - unnoticable to casual observers on a human time scale. How long would it take the continents to move a whole meter?
Instructional Activities: This activity will help you discover how Wegener "Put the Pieces Together"
Putting the Pieces Together
Work in groups of three or four.
Tear one sheet of newspaper into a few large pieces.
Trade pieces with a friend.
Try to fit the pieces back together.
Questions to ask during the activity: What could the whole piece of newspaper represent in this activity? (Pangaea) What could the ripped pieces represent? (The continents) What could the lines of print represent? (The evidence)
Discussion: How does this activity relate to the theory of continental drift? Did the lines of print help you to reassemble the pieces of newspaper? How did the lines of print help you? Can the lines of print be compared to the evidence of continental drift? If so, how can they be compared? Pieces of the Puzzle.docPieces of the Puzzle.doc
Concluding the Lesson
Class Discussion:
Which type of evidence for continental drift do you find most interesting? Why? (Choose several students to answer)
Which type of evidence do you find most supportive to Wegener's theory? Why? (Choose several students to answer)
Why do you think it was so difficult for Wegener's ideas about continental drift to be accepted by geologic "experts" in his time?
Relating the lesson to issues in society and to student lives:
Homework: Alfred Wegener was correct in his theory, and it is accepted today, but no one would listen to him during his time. Have you ever been in a situation where you KNEW you were right and no one would listen, OR have you ever known someone else who has been in a situation where he/she was right and no one would listen? Describe the situation in a short paragraph. (You may change the names of the people in your paragraph to protect the innocent!)
What was the idea or situation?
Who wouldn't listen? Why?
How did this situation make you feel?
What did you do about it?
How will you bring the lesson together. What the main idea of the lesson? How is each activity related to what students were to learn?
Main Idea: To have the students understand a logical approach to drifting continents using various supporting evidence. The Hand-Out helps the students keep the lecture information neatly organized in one place for later reference. (Perhaps when drawing the worksheet or during class discussion or as a study guide)
Activities:
The Newspaper Activity shows the students that the pieces of ripped newspaper are similar to our "ripped" continents. The lines of print (which should have aided them with reassembling) represent the "evidence" presented during lecture.
The worksheet is similar to the newspaper activity, but it has the students use the information/examples directly from lecture to draw the "big picture."
Homework: The homework extends the lesson having the students connect a similar ("being right but no one would listen") experience to that of Wegener's. This extension leads into how a theory grows stronger when new evidence is discovered.
Assessing Student Understanding
Next day: Review of previous lesson, and re-introduce the green sea turtle.
Assessment, Journal Writing Activity:
With the information presented and learned yesterday, what could account for the behavior of the green sea turtle with regard to it traveling so far to lay it's eggs?
What do you think accounts for the turtle's behavior?
Why do you think this?
Draw and label a picture of your idea.
The students can be assessed through the journal writing assignment.
Doing this activity gives the teacher an opportunity to determine if the students met the learning performances with using "evidence presented" and applying it to the bizarre behavior of the green sea turtle. (I chose to assess this with a writing activity and a picture because some students may be better writers, and some may be more able to communicate their thoughts through pictures. I want to KNOW if they can apply this concept to the sea turtle.)
Cautions
There are no cautions with this activity.
Sources
Dynamic Earth, Prentice Hall Science, 1994,1993
Contributing Writers: Linda Densman, Linds Grant, Heather Hirschfeld, Marcia Mungenast, and Michael Ross
Teaching Resources
Include links to Powerpoint files, Word files, and/or pdfs for all instructional materials for this lesson, including handouts, worksheets, etc.
Rationale:
Beginning the lesson with a short discussion about the "March of the Penguins" is probably a phenomenon of which most students are familiar. Asking them what they remember about the movie (that the penguins travel a long distance to lay their eggs) is a good lead to introduce the behavior of the green sea turtle. This connects something that they already know to new information.
The evidence presented during instructional sequence provides a variety of phenomena which reinforces the fact that our continents are, in fact, slowly moving. With a variety of phenomena, the students will get a better understanding of the concept of continental drift.
The Putting the Pieces Together activity offers the students a "hands on" activity to apply the concept of continental drift in the classroom setting. They will be able to relate the newspaper pieces and lines of print to the information obtained from lecture. This activity reinforces the lesson. The worksheet has the students use the actual infromation presented during the instructional sequence to draw and label a picture representing continental drift.
Title: Plate Tectonics
Grade Level: 7
Course: Geology
Lesson Overview
Describing evidence for the theory of continental drift.Learning Performances
Learning performances illustrate how students should use the scientific content and practices in tasks and reflect the reasoning tasks we want students to be able to do with scientific knowledge.Links to Standards or Benchmarks
You should link to a page unpacking the standard or benchmark lesson is meant to address.ESS1 (5-8) INQ+ POC –1
Use geological evidence provided to support the idea
that the Earth’s crust/lithosphere is composed of
plates that move.
ESS1 (7-8)–1
Students demonstrate an
understanding of processes
and change over time within
earth systems by …
1a citing evidence and developing a logical argument for plate movement using fossil evidence, layers of sedimentary rock, location of mineral deposits, and shape of the continents.
3a Evaluating slow processes(e.g. weathering, erosion, mountain building, sea floor spreading) to determine how the Earth has changed and will continue to change over time.
Materials Needed
Students need a their notebook and a pencil.Teacher needs overhead projecter, world map, pictures of green sea turtle, fossils (real fossil example would be great), matching rock formations, and a map of coal and glacial deposits.
Graphic Organizer: Paper sectioned into two columns one labeled "Evidence Type" and one labeled "Example"
Newspaper for activity
Time Required
15 minutes lecture10 minutes activity
10 minute discussion about activity
5 - 10 minutes worksheet
5 minute review
Instructional Sequence
Introducing the lesson: Who has seen the movie March of the Penguins? What do you remember about the movie?
Discuss the nesting habits of the penguins and then introduce the sea turtle.
Roamin' Ramona (Share map of Ramona's migration; still map and animated map.)
Describe in more detail where sea turtles live and where it lays it's eggs. (It lives off the coast of Brazil and travels to Ascension Island, about 1,450 miles away, to lay it's eggs. That's almost 3,000 miles round trip!) Ask why do you think it behaves this way? What could explain why this turtle makes such a long journey?
Hand-Out: Graphic Organizer to help students organize thier notes from lecture.
What is continental drift?
Show a picture of continents in present positions. What do you notice about them? (Hopefully that they resemble puzzle pieces in that they look like they "fit" together.) Do you think our planet has always looked this way? What about 2 Million years ago? One million years ago? Why do you think it looks this way?
Wegener's theory, from unfavorable to acceptable within the scientific community. (Wegener was a meteorologist, a weather scientist - what does HE know about Geology?!)
Facts/evidence supporting theory of continental drift:
Instructional Activities: This activity will help you discover how Wegener "Put the Pieces Together"
Putting the Pieces TogetherWork in groups of three or four.
Tear one sheet of newspaper into a few large pieces.
Trade pieces with a friend.
Try to fit the pieces back together.
Questions to ask during the activity: What could the whole piece of newspaper represent in this activity? (Pangaea) What could the ripped pieces represent? (The continents) What could the lines of print represent? (The evidence)
Discussion: How does this activity relate to the theory of continental drift? Did the lines of print help you to reassemble the pieces of newspaper? How did the lines of print help you? Can the lines of print be compared to the evidence of continental drift? If so, how can they be compared?
Pieces of the Puzzle.docPieces of the Puzzle.doc
Concluding the Lesson
Class Discussion:
Which type of evidence for continental drift do you find most interesting? Why? (Choose several students to answer)
Which type of evidence do you find most supportive to Wegener's theory? Why? (Choose several students to answer)
Why do you think it was so difficult for Wegener's ideas about continental drift to be accepted by geologic "experts" in his time?
Relating the lesson to issues in society and to student lives:
Homework: Alfred Wegener was correct in his theory, and it is accepted today, but no one would listen to him during his time. Have you ever been in a situation where you KNEW you were right and no one would listen, OR have you ever known someone else who has been in a situation where he/she was right and no one would listen? Describe the situation in a short paragraph. (You may change the names of the people in your paragraph to protect the innocent!)
- What was the idea or situation?
- Who wouldn't listen? Why?
- How did this situation make you feel?
- What did you do about it?
How will you bring the lesson together. What the main idea of the lesson? How is each activity related to what students were to learn?Main Idea: To have the students understand a logical approach to drifting continents using various supporting evidence. The Hand-Out helps the students keep the lecture information neatly organized in one place for later reference. (Perhaps when drawing the worksheet or during class discussion or as a study guide)
Activities:
The Newspaper Activity shows the students that the pieces of ripped newspaper are similar to our "ripped" continents. The lines of print (which should have aided them with reassembling) represent the "evidence" presented during lecture.
The worksheet is similar to the newspaper activity, but it has the students use the information/examples directly from lecture to draw the "big picture."
Homework: The homework extends the lesson having the students connect a similar ("being right but no one would listen") experience to that of Wegener's. This extension leads into how a theory grows stronger when new evidence is discovered.
Assessing Student Understanding
Next day: Review of previous lesson, and re-introduce the green sea turtle.
Assessment, Journal Writing Activity:
With the information presented and learned yesterday, what could account for the behavior of the green sea turtle with regard to it traveling so far to lay it's eggs?
The students can be assessed through the journal writing assignment.
Doing this activity gives the teacher an opportunity to determine if the students met the learning performances with using "evidence presented" and applying it to the bizarre behavior of the green sea turtle. (I chose to assess this with a writing activity and a picture because some students may be better writers, and some may be more able to communicate their thoughts through pictures. I want to KNOW if they can apply this concept to the sea turtle.)
Cautions
There are no cautions with this activity.Sources
Dynamic Earth, Prentice Hall Science, 1994,1993
Contributing Writers: Linda Densman, Linds Grant, Heather Hirschfeld, Marcia Mungenast, and Michael Ross
Teaching Resources
Include links to Powerpoint files, Word files, and/or pdfs for all instructional materials for this lesson, including handouts, worksheets, etc.http://www.wonderclub.com/Atlas/ascnsion.htm
http://www.naturehaven.com/Ocean/seaturtle2.gif
http://www.summitpost.org/images/small/243507.jpg
Rationale:
Beginning the lesson with a short discussion about the "March of the Penguins" is probably a phenomenon of which most students are familiar. Asking them what they remember about the movie (that the penguins travel a long distance to lay their eggs) is a good lead to introduce the behavior of the green sea turtle. This connects something that they already know to new information.
The evidence presented during instructional sequence provides a variety of phenomena which reinforces the fact that our continents are, in fact, slowly moving. With a variety of phenomena, the students will get a better understanding of the concept of continental drift.
The Putting the Pieces Together activity offers the students a "hands on" activity to apply the concept of continental drift in the classroom setting. They will be able to relate the newspaper pieces and lines of print to the information obtained from lecture. This activity reinforces the lesson. The worksheet has the students use the actual infromation presented during the instructional sequence to draw and label a picture representing continental drift.
DEMO LP EVAL - AMY - JAY